Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson is announcing the top ten list of complaints for calendar year 2008. ...more

December 28, 2008

I have missed a number of commission sessions, but I do read the papers and watch television for news of local and state issues. One of them is the issue of state officials using pension funds for questionable investments. A short time before Enron went under, along with $7 trillion of the national market, the state administration bought $300 million of Enron stock with pension funds of the teachers retirement fund and $300 million from the firemen and police funds. They became worthless. Nothing happened; it was just a blip on the assets and liability charts. Just recently, it came to light that administration had also bought risky stock with other portfolio funds that affected local governments. When a rush to withdraw half of those portfolio funds occurred, the state closed those funds to preclude further erosion of that portfolio. As I understand it, Mr. Stepanovich, a significant member of that committee, has resigned. The question remains: Who will be held accountable for making those risky investments? ...more

December 22, 2007

The Florida Legislature took steps last spring to protect the integrity of the state's horse industry by passing legislation to prevent unfair or deceptive trade practices, and Gov. Charlie Crist signed it without hesitation. ...more

November 24, 2007